


the simplicity of forever

by Silverine



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Birthday, But like private, Established Relationship, Happy Birthday Lance (Voltron), Instructor!Lance, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Canon, Rings, Surprise Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25602046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverine/pseuds/Silverine
Summary: It's almost Instructor Lance McClain's birthday, and he wants this one to be an epic celebration in his new house, with all his friends, family, and of course, his boyfriend.But Keith had to pickthisbirthday to act all mysterious and unpredictable, right?For Lance's Birthday 2020 - and, again, forever and ever.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 227
Collections: Short and sweetly





	the simplicity of forever

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [you're always welcome here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17569253) by [Silverine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverine/pseuds/Silverine). 



> A short thing I wrote for my boy on his birthday! This is a direct sequel to ["you're always welcome here"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17569253) and the one-shot ["born to love and be loved"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21153221), but it can totally be read as a standalone too, no worries.  
> I won't apologize for repeating last year's theme or for being sappy, I simply love them a lot and I wanted to write this, hehe. I hope you enjoy!

"We’re done here! I’ll be back in a week. I don't want to hear any concerning report when I'm back."

"Yes, sir!"

“Any issues and questions, please redirect them to Instructor Griffin.” Lance smirks to the group of youths before adding, “The more, the better. I’m sure he’ll _love_ it.”

His cadets burst into laughter and jiggles. Instructor McClain picks his bag, smiling from behind his desk. 

"Alright then, cadets, I'm off! Have a good weekend!"

"Goodbye, sir!"

Before he crosses the door, a couple of girls sitting on a corner stop whispering to each other to yell from their seats, “Happy birthday, sir!” and the rest of the class joins them with exclamations that Lance stops by raising his hands.

“No, no, that’s tomorrow! Wait until I’m back, or else it’s bad luck! Haven’t you heard?” he says, waving at them from the door with a wink.

Even after he turns around the corner he can hear the noise the teens make as they leave the classroom, making him laugh under his breath. 

It’s become usual for him to smile like this while doing his job, which is still hard to believe. He had so little faith in himself when he started teaching, after all-- yet, three years into it already, he can say with confidence it’s been one of the best decisions of his life.

Despite that, taking a short break from it is still a relief. Normally, with the prospect of his birthday coming tomorrow and a few free days on the way he'd be dancing around the corridors as he leaves the Garrison, but today... Well, there's a single cloud in his otherwise perfectly clear sky.

As soon as he finds himself alone, Lance's smile melts into a dejected pout. After a moment of doubt, he fishes his phone from his pocket and takes another look at it without much hope.

There are a few new messages, but none from the one he wants to hear about. Stopping under the shade of the stairs, he taps on the conversation with his boyfriend, if only to make himself unnecessarily miserable.

For a couple of weeks already, reaching Keith has been harder than usual. He answers hurriedly and belatedly, and to the constant reminders about the most special date of the year coming closer -- Lance’s birthday--, he’s been strangely evasive. 

In his defense, Lance must admit he has been bugging him more than ever this year. But it’s because it’s the first time they’ll host a party in their new house-- they moved there together officially more than half a year ago, and yet they haven’t had the chance to receive their friends and inaugurate it properly.

(Despite them inaugurating it in private many times.)

(Room by room too, just to make sure.)

BUT, the thing is: For Lance, his birthday is a very special and joyous occasion, and this year he wants it to be _epic_. So, excuse him for asking for a bit of cooperation from his partner in relevant matters like his opinion on the food, and the drinks, and more importantly: his time of arrival.

To which this heartless man had the nerve to answer:

BABE♥♥♥♥🍑💕💕❤💕

_Dw, I’ll be there in time for sure._

And that's the last he heard from him.

“Why am I in love with you, again?” mumbles Lance, turning off the screen. Then he squints, turns it on again, changes Keith’s contact name to "🔪THAT GUY", and shoves the phone back into his pocket with a scoff. 

Look, he’s not one to compare, but for Keith’s birthdays he’s been capable of dropping everything, including his family-- hell, including _Halloween_! And Keith, despite being such a busy man, has managed to be with him for his two previous birthdays since they officially became boyfriends too... so, why did he have to pick _this one_ to be difficult?

Frustrated, he goes to Pidge’s lab to complain while he waits for his transport. However, when he arrives, Matt Holt puts a finger on his lips asking him to be quiet, and points with his thumb to a corner where a small figure is curled under a blanket in a makeshift bed.

“She stayed up working on a project for a very demanding client,” says Matt Holt, grinning slyly when they are outside. “He just left, so she said she was going to catch some sleep now, or else she won’t wake up to go to your party tomorrow.”

“Goddammit, why does nobody love me?” whines Lance, supporting his back on the wall and pouting again. He looks at Matt with resentment when he laughs out loud.

“Oh man,” he says, wiping a tear. “I’m sure someone out there loves you more than enough.”

When Lance squints at him, suspicious, he blushes and stutters.

“N-not me, man! I meant, cheer up! Tomorrow will be great, I’m sure!”

“Yeah, yeah. At least try to make it on time, alright? I can _really_ hold a grudge, Holt, you two have been warned,” says Lance, offering his hand to Matt, who shakes it as he laughs again.

“We wouldn’t miss it for anything, don’t worry!”

* * *

When Lance finishes shopping for the last things he needs -- with zero help from anyone, mind you-- it’s already very late. He calls Rachel on the way home one last time to remind her that, since she refused to stay the night before to help him, she better arrive early next morning.

“I’ll try to arrive at a good time. Not too late, but not too early either,” she answers in a mischievous way that irks Lance. However, fumbling with his card and the bags to open the main door of his house, he decides to let it go.

“Just be here, alright? It’s too much to do alone. And it’s _our_ birthday! How come I’m doing all the work here?!” asks Lance.

“You won’t be alone, that’s for sure,” answers Rachel, again in that weird tone. “But hey, we’re working a lot here too! Relax, will ya? We’ll be there with the booze and the meat, so chill, bridezilla.”

“Shut up, who’s getting married? Just for the record, though, if anyone tried to ditch me on my wedding day like today, you’d meet bridezilla for real,” grumbles Lance, finally finding the elusive card and putting it against the beeping lock.

“Haha, we’ll see that,” says Rachel. “Talk to you tomorrow. And… be cool, okay? Don't panic!”

Lance frowns, but opening his door, he answers with a vague, “Yeah, sure? Bye.”

It’s when he hangs up that he realizes there’s something strange here. He always leaves the lights of the main hall turned on, how come they are all off now? Did he forget, or…?

Carefully, he sets the bags on the floor and takes a few steps into the house. The security system shows no signs of disruption; the main panel is on the other end of the hall, so he walks to it with silent steps, paying attention to any sound that may disrupt the unnerving silence of the house. 

But after a few steps, he passes by the kitchen and stops next to the open arch, slowly turning his head to look inside.

In the middle of the kitchen, there’s a messy counter, and in the middle of the messy counter, there’s something emitting a soft orange light, creating a weak halo around it, illuminating its surroundings.

Tense, Lance walks to it. After two steps, he finally understands what he’s seeing: it’s a cake and a lit candle. However, before he can even sigh in relief and reassure his brain he’s not about to become the protagonist of a slasher film, two strong arms surround him and a voice says in his ear:

“Happy birthday, Sharpshooter.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

He curls by reflex and the arms hugging him keep him from falling down. His screech is so high pitched it somehow triggers the security system; a holographic screen materializes in a corner of the kitchen, and a robotic voice offers him their list of emergency numbers.

“Sorry, sorry!” Keith apologizes clumsily, freeing Lance to turn on the lights. His boyfriend bends forward holding his shaky knees.

“Oh my god, babe, were you trying to kill me?!” he asks, out of breath. Still, even in his shock, he feels like laughing when he sees Keith’s horrified face.

“No, sorry, I just-- Ahh, I’m so stupid,” says Keith, scratching his head with fury. “I wanted to give you a surprise and Shiro said-- but I-- Sorry.”

“No, no, wait, it’s fine. Payback? Let’s call it payback for that time I almost gave you a heart attack for your birthday too, remember?” says Lance, standing straight and looking around. The small cake has a single candle in it and looks comically innocent now that the lights are on.

Keith isn’t happy, though.

“You still remember that?” he asks. “Forget it, this is way worse. I mean, if you did this to me I would have done more than just scream. What was I even thinking…”

Lance laughs, but then he stares at his boyfriend and notices something strange. He’s in his normal clothes, tall and handsome like always, with his long hair secured in a ponytail with the same hair tie he gave him back months ago. Same old, amazing Keith, but somehow, he looks…

… Fidgety?

“I wanted to surprise you before anyone else. I’m sorry, Lance,” says Keith, and when he shoves his hands inside the pockets of his jacket hunching a bit, Lance confirms something is up with him. He raises an eyebrow, as Keith adds, “also, sorry for not answering your last message. I was busy with something.”

“Oh, so you’re aware you left me on seen? Not cool, babe, you can’t ignore the birthday boy like that,” says Lance, walking until he’s right in front of him. Smiling, he also puts his hands inside Keith’s pockets, searching for his palms. “Is that why you’re so nervous? Am I that scary, or is something else up?”

Keith opens his eyes wide and looks away as a soft pinkish tint extends on his cheeks. Lance looks at him in awe-- it’s still such a precious sight to have Keith be so open and cute in front of him that his knees feel like giving up again.

“...I brought you a gift,” he mumbles, and Lance has to contain himself from biting that slightly pouty lower lip.

“Really?” he asks with a smile, turning his head to look at the cake with the candle still lit and starting to melt. He’s about to comment on it, but Keith catches his hands inside his pockets, and he feels something hard being crushed between his right palm and Keith’s left.

When they take them out of the jacket, Lance sees their joined hands are holding a small black velvet box, and his stomach flips.

Wait. 

_Waitwaitwait._ No way.

It… It couldn’t be…?

“So… For a few months, I’ve been trying to get my hands on this rare mineral Coran mentioned when we still lived in the castle,” Keith explains. His palms are sweaty, Lance can feel that. “In Altean, it’s called _kadara_. I remember he said many cultures use it to craft stuff meant to last forever because it can resist anything. It’s harder to get than luxite, though, so it took a while, but I finally got a deal a few days ago.” 

Keith gently lets go of Lance’s hand and holds the closed box tightly in his fist. Lance feels his eyes glued to it, while Keith’s words enter his ears softly.

“It was a pain to have it delivered to me, though, I had to move some contacts and-- Well, it doesn’t matter, but I was busy these days because I wanted it as soon as possible and I was in a rush. So when I got it I came here and went directly to Pidge.”

“Pidge…?” asks Lance, with a thread of a voice. The gears in his brain are stuck, but even so, he vaguely remembers something… Something about some demanding client...

“Yeah. This thing is hard to manipulate, so I asked for her help. She said there’s no element that can defeat her yet and bring it on, but it was harder than expected. I owe her a lot,” says Keith. He looks at the cake, wetting his lips. “Oh, uh, Hunk made that one. I hope it’s not too stale, he gave it to me like two days ago, said it’s a taste of what he’ll be bringing tomorrow, so…”

“Okay...” says Lance, gulping. Keith’s nerves got to him, and he can’t stop the subtle shake of his hands. He looks at Keith with pleading eyes, and his boyfriend seems to understand the cat is out of the bag. 

If it is what Lance thinks it is, of course...

“Right. So, uh… you know I’ve never been very… romantic.” Keith blushes even more. Lance disagrees, but he can’t talk back, hypnotized as Keith continues. “But I don’t know why that bit Coran told us stayed with me all these years. About the _kadara_ representing ‘unshakable fate’, or ‘the simplicity of forever’, things like that. To be honest, I thought it was stupid at first. I didn’t believe in that stuff at the time. But now…” 

He takes a deep breath as if to give himself courage. He looks at the candle, and then right into Lance’s eyes, and his voice is lower but firmer.

“When I’m with you… it’s somehow easier to believe. I _want_ to believe it. Stuff like ‘forever’.”

Keith clears his throat. He seems in pain-- he’s not a person who enjoys giving long speeches about feelings or poetry. And yet, here he is, pouring his heart out while Lance is left defenseless, speechless, and _eager_. Eager to hear the rest of it.

But Keith seems to have reached some limit of his own because he casts down his gaze and suddenly seems about to abort the mission.

“I’m sorry if this is too weird. Or... too soon,” he mumbles. “I just had decided, when I get some _kadara,_ I’ll do it. But I, uh. I don’t know, maybe I--”

"Say it." 

Keith raises his eyes, red to his ears. Lance's voice is thin, and his hands are shaking, and they are in their kitchen while a candle is melting over his cake behind them, but he doesn’t care at all. He wants to hear it. He never realized how much he wants to hear it.

Or maybe he did, all those lazy mornings waking up in Keith’s arms, and every dragging goodbye when they have to part ways. Every meal they have together, and every kiss in the shadows of a public place; every time Keith undresses him, and every time Lance runs his fingers through his hair when he’s sad or tired.

Their three years together and the long, painful road that led them to this day went by so quick, they just feel like the prologue of a story that’s about to start, because it’s simply _not enough_ \-- an entire life of this may not be enough, Lance realizes.

So he gets what Keith was searching for with this rare mineral thing. Something that explains this very particular feeling, the strange concept of wanting to stay together ‘forever’. His lips curl into an endeared smile.

To think Keith Kogane dares to say he isn’t a romantic when he has Loverboy Lance McClain trembling of love right in front of him!

"C'mon,” Lance begs. “Go ahead, Samurai. Try me."

Keith looks stunned, letting out a choked laugh. His black lashes flutter when he sighs one more time and then kneels in front of Lance. Carefully, he opens the box to show inside it a beautiful ring made of silver and dark purple stone. It’s incredibly beautiful-- but not as much as the man holding it, who asks in a soft voice:

"Lance McClain. Will you marry me?"

 _‘Well hello there, bridezilla!’_ shouldn’t be his first thought, but of course it is. Everything is suddenly clicking: Rachel, Pidge, Matt, maybe even Shiro and Hunk… They were all in, weren’t they?! However, his conclusions arrive and collapse immediately in his euphoria.

"Oh shit. Oh god, you really did it," he croaks, covering his mouth and staring at Keith with wide-open, watery eyes. He nods so fast he gets dizzy. Keith looks at him confused. 

"Yes?" he asks, so distressed it makes Lance laugh pitifully.

“Yes! Of course! Holy shit!” exclaims Lance, and Keith stands up with more effort than his athletic body would normally require. Maybe he also feels his legs like jelly-- at least Lance knows his are about to melt into a puddle while Keith takes the ring from the box with trembling fingers and slides it around his left ring finger, where it fits perfectly. 

Knowing his now fiancé, Lance expected to be kissed like there’s no tomorrow immediately, but instead, Keith stares at Lance’s hand in silence for a moment. And just when Lance believes he can see some wetness gathering in Keith’s waterline, he takes his hand and presses it hard against his face, the ring brushing his cheek. He closes his eyes and purses his lips, holding Lance’s hand tightly.

For some reason, this pierces Lance’s heart deeply. There’s something so desperate under this gesture, something that gets under his own skin too. 

It must be the fact that just a few years back, none of them could have imagined this kind of future. Lance, lost in the dark, and Keith, yearning in vain, would never have believed so much happiness was just around the corner for them.

But they made it. They found each other, and Lance only has love and gratitude for that resilient heart that waited for him and now took the step he didn’t dare that day when he childishly tied a red elastic around their joined fingers. The message was the same, but he didn’t have the courage to take it further. So he decides, right at this moment, that he will give back tenfold all that he has received, with this gorgeous ring to be his reminder.

“It fits perfectly,” says Lance, appreciating it with a smile. “And you didn’t even need to measure my finger, huh.”

“I didn’t,” admits Keith, opening his eyes and smiling too. Lance snorts. He always teases Keith for his habit of touching his ring finger absentmindedly-- guess it wasn’t _that_ absentmindedly after all.

“And you don’t have a matching one?” he asks.

Keith smiles wider. He lets go of Lance’s hand to take off one of his fingerless gloves; hidden under it, his pale hand sports a purple ring too. Lance snatches the glove and then throws it right into the sink.

“Oh, no, you’re not wearing these anymore! You can’t hide your ring, you’re a taken man!” says Lance, surrounding Keith’s neck with his arms.

“But you love them,” whispers Keith with that low voice he uses so well, and Lance feels all his hair rising at it. Smug, his fiancé adds, “besides, I’ve always been a taken man.”

Lance scoffs. That’s not true, but also not the point. From now on, the entire universe must know that Keith Kogane _is_ _not_ , and _will_ _not_ _be_ available any time soon.

“God. I love you so much, Keith. So much,” is what Lance says instead because that’s the only thing that truly matters, as he melts into the kiss he’s been craving all this time, long and intense. They stumble back, until Lance’s lower back hits the counter and, gasping, they separate long enough to look at the poor cake and what’s left of the candle, about to disappear into the whipped cream.

“Won’t you blow it?” asks Keith, voice muddled and low, making the question sound so indecent Lance can’t help but laugh, despite his toes curling a bit.

“It’s not midnight yet, is it? It’s bad luck, they say,” he answers playfully, caressing Keith’s jaw. He makes a short pause, biting his lower lip, knowing very well Keith can’t take his eyes off this gesture and then looks at him with mischievous eyes.

“Say. From one to ten, how mad do you think Hunk would be if we used his cake for... _other_ purposes?”

Keith’s hands tighten on his waist, and the feeling of the ring on his left hand pressing against his side sends a shiver all over Lance’s body. There’s nothing he loves more than tempting Keith (his fiancé! holy shit!), so he enjoys the way he can almost see the new full-fledged spectrum of possibilities opening before Keith’s eyes, colliding with his loyalty to their beloved friend. 

The winner in that fight doesn’t surprise anyone, though.

“What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him,” Keith decrees, putting off the candle with his bare fingers and making Lance laugh as he hugs him from his back, extending the hand with his new ring in front of them. Keith takes it and plants a kiss over the ring, smiling. Then Lance finds himself being picked from the ground and into his fiancé’s unbearably hot arms, cake included, and as he’s carried upstairs this way, he can only think two things.

One, if this is their _‘forever’_ , it’s incredibly easy to do, and he must be the luckiest man alive.

And two…

Damn. It’s a good thing his sister said she won’t be here too early tomorrow!

**Author's Note:**

> You think the cake was put to good use? Haha.  
> Who knows if for Keith's next birthday I'll add another story like this one! But for now, this is a conclusion to the conclusion of my post-canon universe, and I never knew I needed to give them this so much :') 
> 
> I'd appreciate any comments and thoughts <3\. You can also find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/silverineon) or [Tumblr](https://silverineontherun.tumblr.com). Laters!!


End file.
